lung du ston pa rtsa ba sum cu pa

"The Root Grammar in Thirty Verses", the first of Thu mi Sambhota's eight treatises which defined the Tibetan grammar and language. Deals with the bases of the grammar system by first defining the letters, vowels, and consonants of the Tibetan lettering system and then the way that letters are put together to form words resulting in a treatment of the signs of the eight cases of the various non-cases in the Tibetan language. Of the eight treatises only two are extant, the other six having been destroyed by King Langdarma in the tenth century A.D. See also lung du ston pa rtags kyi 'jug pa, the other surviving treatise. Both treatises were written in about the year 650 A.D. Abbreviations: sum cu pa. [TDuff] [RY]